


Pick a Side

by themoistplinth



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Action Sword Fighting Awesome, Angst, Galra!Keith, Good Kitty, M/M, Moral Dilemmas, Sad lance, Space Battles, Violence, YOU'RE WELCOME CRIS, but still some good shit, lowkey klance, spaaaaaace, the opening isn't the best bit BUT STICK WITH IT IT'S WORTH IT
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-10-26
Updated: 2016-10-26
Packaged: 2018-08-27 04:49:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,915
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8387800
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/themoistplinth/pseuds/themoistplinth
Summary: When Team Voltrom engage in an all out battle with a Galra fleet an old enemy appears and proposes an interesting proposition which could doom the universe if Keith doesn't choose wisely...





	

** Pick a Side **

“The hull’s breached!” Allura cried, her hands frantically flying over the castle’s consoles, attempting to do everything she could to fend off the Galran attackers. The castle fired shot after shot, the brightly coloured lights flying into the endless vacuum that surrounded it, missing not a single order. Coran barked status updates to Allura and she nodded, her fingers acting on his words to attempt to seal their new vulnerability.  


Outside the battle waged equally as poor-the huge Galra fleet fired equally powerful weapons at the castle and the combination of the five lions protecting it; Voltron swung its fists, knocking one ship into another and triggering a series of explosions along the rims of the ships. Voltron continued onwards, drawing its sword from nothing and plunging it into another Galran ship. It collapsed as easily as the previous ships, Voltron destroying them as easily as a man might an ant, yet the sheer magnitude of the ships made it near impossible to possibly fight them all.  


“There’s too many,” Shiro grunted, Voltron grabbing into a small Galran shuttle and throwing it into the control centre of another large ship, “If we split up we should be able to fight more at once”.  


“Not to be that guy,” Hunk said nervously, “But won’t it be easier for them to attack us all and, I dunno, kill us?”  


“If you’re fast enough you should be able to avoid them,” Keith pointed out, “Stay confident and your lion should stay safe”.  


“Maybe alright for you with your Galra instincts but I’m human,” Hunk abled, “I mean I’m not trying to say you have an unfair advantage or anything but the rest of us aren’t able to move as fast as you and I don’t think that we should have to keep up with-”

  
“Hunk,” Shiro interrupted, “You’ll be fine. There are five of us, and a huge support ship to help. You’ll be fine”.  


A tense silence filled the comm link, not a sound would be heard if not for Voltron continuing to slice through Galran ships like a hot knife through butter. Finally a hesitant sigh sounded and Hunk said, “Okay. Let’s do this”.

Immediately the giant form of Voltron glowed and split, five different lions flying off in separate directions, each with purpose and power fitting only that of a Voltron paladin. The Green Lion was the first to encounter Galra, immediately beset by the flashing purple lights of Galran lasers; she opened her jaw wide and blasted out a shot of her own, ripping into the metal ship and flying out the other side, leaving a gaping hole through the thick ship. It flipped and tore its tail along the skin of the ship, leaving a glowing trail in its wake. The ship tried to fire after the lion but instead, all over the ship, canons began to implode on themselves.  


Pidge grinned, “Good kitty,” she purred affectionately, “Guys the Lions’ mods are working, you should be able to take them down a lot easier”.  


“Yeah, thanks Pidge,” Lance growled into his helmet, “How about a little help?”  


The Blue Lion flew amongst Galran ships as dozens of smaller shuttles chased after the ship, firing their purple lasers after Lance’s Lion unsuccessfully. The Green Lion attempted to pursue the shuttles but was itself attacked by a similar fleet-it began to dispatch them but more and more began to take the defeated one’s places.  


“There’s too many to fight,” Pidge cried, plunging into a nosedive to evade the constant assault. The Yellow Lion collided with a dozen of Pidge’s attacker’s, explosions dotting the mostly void, partially stars, landscape that surrounded them.  


The shuttles pursuing the blue lion faced an equal attack, the Black Lion firing a pair of lasers from its wings and effectively destroying the shuttles in their entirety.  


“We’ll be okay as long as we work together,” Shiro reprimanded the paladins, “Hunk, Lance, cover us, Pidge, Keith and I need to take out the big one”.  


“Big one?” Hunk said nervously, colliding his lion with more ships and biting into the metal of others.  


“Which ship is the big one, they’re all huge!” Lance protested, “And why Keith?”  


“Lance, now’s not the time,” Shiro sniped, “And as for which ship…”  


Immediately an enormous blast flew toward the Castle of Lions, smashing into its particle barrier with enough force that, if not for the vacuum of their surroundings, would have thrown the fleet, lions and all the debris floating nearby backwards practically destroying it. The particle barrier flickered for a moment before returning strong, its colour not dulled even slightly.  


“Cover you guys,” Lance nodded.  


“Take out the big one,” Keith finished, his wide ears twitching from nerves, even whilst crushed inside his helmet. The Red, Green and Black Lions soared towards the gargantuan behemoth of the main ship, its looming presence filling the empty void with purple light. Its cannon visibly prepared to take another powerful shot at the castle.  


“Keith, take out the cannon,” Shiro ordered and the Red Lion flew out quickly to the tip of the ship. Its speed was so great that not a single ship had time to fire a laser toward it before its tail sliced through the thick metal holding up the canon. The Red Lion smashed its weight into the cannon and it slid from its place, flying sideways and crashing into a smaller ship and sending it careening through space.  


“Paladins!” Allura’s voice rang out through the comm link, “Galra troops have got in through the breach!”  


“Lance, Keith, protect the castle, the rest of us can hold back the Galra,” Shiro commanded; the Blue and Red Lions immediately shot toward the castle, dodging the huge amounts of Galra between them and the castle. Several smaller shuttles began to pursue them but great blue lights arcing from the castle kept them at bay.  


“Shiro it’s nice to know that you think we can stop this many Galra,” Hunk chattered, “but seriously we can’t stop this many Galra. There’s an entire fleet, the three of us alone can’t do this”.  


“They just need a few moments to seal up whatever breach the Galra made in the castle,” Shiro said, “We don’t have to hold them back for long”.  


“And with the modifications put into the lions they should be able to come help without Lance or Keith piloting them,” Pidge chirped, “They’ll be slower and their attacks won’t be as effective but it should be enough”.  


Hunk began a reply when his lion was rocketed sideways by a colossal explosion, sending him spinning with a yell.  


The Red Lion swiped its long tail and the shuttles tailing the lion collided, sweeping them aside into another of the large Galran battleships. The shuttles trailing behind the Blue Lion saw this and slowed to avoid a similar attack and were immediately crushed by an approaching set of shuttles behind-the resulting explosion rocketed the Blue Lion ahead of the fleet and the Red Lion, practically smashing it into the Castle of Lion’s particle barrier.  


“The breach is in the lower levels,” Allura stated over the comms, “We’ve managed to herd them into the loading bay”.  


“Hey princess,” Lance purred, “How about once we’ve cleared out the Galra I come up and have a little visit. We could get dinner or-”  


“Lance,” Shiro barked, his distaste tangible from literal miles of space away.  


“Bet you wouldn’t tell fluffy off for saying it,” Lance muttered mutinously, “Just because he’s your favourite”.  


“Stop calling me fluffy,” Keith scowled, his ear twitching in distaste.  


“How about you then fuzz,” Lance murmured, “You wanna find somewhere after all this to get me knocked out? You can cradle me again if you want”.  


Pidge’s snickers were audible over the comm link causing Keith to blush, “Will you ever let that go!” he said, his voice cracking pubescently.  


“Keep the line clear guys,” Shiro commanded sternly.  


“Aye aye, cap’n,” Lance said and the noise of battle filling the headsets fell away to silence.  


The Red and Blue Lion reached the castle’s lower cargo door, sitting open and awaiting. Nearby a smaller Galra battle cruiser was lodged into the side of the castle, the wall around it cracked and faded.  


“Lance look at this,” Keith said, “They knew this section of the castle would be easier to break into here”.  


“Whatever fur ball,” Lance said, “Let’s just get this over with so we can get back to the fight”.  


Keith scowled and remained silent, sliding his lion into the cargo bay, followed by Lance. They exited their lions which immediately began to exit back to the battle outside, leaving Keith and Lance alone.

  
The loading bay was large and dark-a single glowing strip faintly illuminated the centre of the room with a turquoise light, keeping the majority of the room shrouded in shadows.  


“Bayards out,” Keith whispered, his sword flashing into existence.  


“It’s not like any Galra could actually survive down here,” Lance murmured, his gun forming regardless, “They need air to breathe as much as we do. We have helmets, what’re they gonna have”.  


“Robots!” Keith shouted, pointing toward the dark shadows where several Galra bots emerged bearing wide guns. Lance swung his Bayard as they began to charge, taking out have the robots in a single attack; simultaneously Keith jumped forward, jumping with catlike reflexes to avoid the attacks. He swung his sword at the Galra, felling two in one swipe. Another went down as Keith’s sword found itself embedded in its chest and the robot fell to the floor.  


“Keith!” screamed Lance, several robots advancing on him guns pointed squarely at his chest. Keith leapt and drove his sword through the chest of the centre bot, pulling it up and splitting its upper body in half. Lance fell back in surprise as the two remaining bots were severed from their bodies swiftly in a single stroke.  


“Nice going samurai,” Lance coughed, taking Keith’s outreached hand and pulling himself to his feet, “Next time try being a bit faster”.  


Keith scowled, put his Bayard away and marched to the side of the open cargo doors, slamming his fist to the large red button sitting beside the large entrance. The long shutters slid shut over the door and oxygen flooded back into the room; Keith pulled off his helmet, allowing it to drop to the floor, and sucked in a breath of relatively fresh air.  


“My thanks,” a cold, deep voice called from the unilluminated edges of their surroundings, “It is much more pleasant to breathe in this clean air than the recycled garbage my suit produces”.  


“I know that voice,” Keith muttered, his ears twitching.  


Lance muttered something inaudible to himself and the voice laughed from the darkness, “Child of course you do-you both should. One of you is a fearsome warrior worthy of serving under Emperor Zarkon himself,” the voice paused and now a cruel smile was audible on its lips, “One of you is a child unable to keep himself awake in the presence of the enemy”.  


“I stayed awake long enough to shoot your arm off didn’t I,” Lance taunted and Keith realised who the voice belonged to.  A figure stepped out of the shadows, his body clad in orange body armour, his one remaining eye glinting yellow menacingly.  


“Sendak!” Keith growled, his ears folding backwards catlike. He bared his teeth and pointed his sword toward the taller Galra, taking a fighting stance.  


“Ready to lose another arm?” Lance grinned, hoisting his gun up and taking careful aim at Sendak-the latter raised the space where his arm had once been and a jet of purple shot out, knocking Lance’s Bayard to one side.  


“I have to thank you child,” Sendak grinned, baring his fangs in a similar manner to Keith, “The druids gifted me with a new arm after your…success in removing the old one they decided an upgrade was in order. If you  make another move I shall repay the favour”.  The curling purple energy retracted into Sendak’s shoulder, leaving a smell of sizzling flesh and burnt air in its wake. “But you aren’t whom I’m here to see”.  


“You stay away from the princess,” Keith growled, “You can’t take her again”.  


“My quarry is not with the Altean youngling, boy, I am here for you”.  


Keith’s ears perked up slightly, surprise flashing across his face, mixing with his anger to form a raged confusion, “Kill me then,” he snarled, “You can’t stop me”.  


“You misunderstand,” Sendak chuckled, “I do not wish to harm you. I am here to extend an offer from the emperor himself”.  


“Keith wouldn’t want anything to do with Zarkon or any of the Galra!” Lance shouted.  


“He wants you to join him as one of his leaders Paladin,” Sendak continued, “He recognises your lineage and potential- come home _Keith_. You don’t belong with the humans”.  


“What the hell are you talking about?” Lance growled, “He’s _half_ human. He’s nothing like you”.   


“What did you mean,” Keith started quietly, “What did you mean about my lineage?”  


“You don’t even know who your father was?” Sendak said incredulously, “No wonder you chose to gallivant with such cretins”.  


“Us cretins managed to beat you once before!”  


“Lance, shut up,” Keith commanded and, surprisingly, the other boy fell silent, “What do you know about my father?”  


“We can tell you more, young one. We know everything about you family and your future-Emperor Zarkon wants you to stand at his side, help him rule the universe and bring peace to its people!” Sendak looked down at Lance, his height paling in comparison to the Galra’s, “What home have these humans built for you? They force you to be a soldier against an empire to last until the end of time-can you not see that your mission is hopeless?”  


“Keith,” Lance began but Sendak cut him off.  


“Look at how they tell you what to do, even now, commanding you as if you were some form of lesser species,” Sendak sneered, “With us you won’t even be mocked again. You will have your honour restored and an army at your command”.  


“An army?” Keith whispered in awe, his eyes wide and gleaming. All anger was gone from his face and his expression was soft-Lance stared in disbelief.  


“That’s…Keith you aren’t seriously listening to this creep are you?” Lance demanded, “He’s Galra! He’s the enemy!”  


“So just being Galra makes you the enemy?” Keith whispered, malice dancing on his lips.  


“You know that’s not what I meant-”  


“Being Galra makes you the enemy,” Keith repeated to himself, staring at the purple fur covering his hands, “I’m Galra…” he murmured, “I’m the enemy”. Keith looked up from his hands and stared at Sendak, raging flames dancing behind his yellow eyes, “I’m the enemy. I’m Galra”.  


“Keith,” Lance cried, “No!”  


“Shut it Lance!” Keith roared, “How long do you think I could take this! How many times do you think I could be called fur ball or fluffy before it would come to this? All I am to you is Galra”.  


“That’s not true!” Lance said desperately, “You’re half human-”

  
“So I’m only worth something because I’m half human?”  


“You know that isn’t what I mean,” Lance said coldly.  


“Whatever,” Keith hissed, turning his back on Lance and walking toward Sendak.  


“This is what you were meant to be Keith,” Sendak smiled, “This is your destiny, to stand at Zarkon’s side as he rules the universe”.  


Keith crossed the room with his feet cast at his feet and held out his hand to Sendak; Sendak grinned and took Keith’s hand with his one remaining limb and shook it.  


“I’m a Galra,” Keith murmured, “I’m the enemy”.  


In a swift motion a bright light flashed at Keith’s side and a spray of deep purple blood splattered Keith as his sword cut through Sendak’s remaining arm, sending him staggering away and howling in pain.  


“Insolent child!” Sendak howled.  


Keith pounced and kicked Sendak’s face, “That’s for calling me a child,” he growled and slid his sword through Sendak’s already injured shoulder, dropping the druid enhancement to the floor, “That’s for thinking I’d side with a creep like you,” Keith hit Sendak hard over the head with the butt of the sword knocking him to the ground, “And that’s for threatening Lance”.

  
Lance stared at the crumpled body of Sendak lying unconscious on the floor with a wide mouth and wide eyes, “You-I”  


Keith shook his hair out of his face and huffed, “I do not like that guy”.  


“You cute off his arm!” Lance exclaimed, “Both of them!”

  
“You shot off his arm once,” Keith shrugged, “It’s not that much worse”.  


“Pidge cut off his arm!” Lance cried, “I just said it was me! You cut off _both_ his arms! And one of was an actual arm!”  


“We can talk about this later,” Keith said dismissively, “We gotta get back outside”. Keith walked back towards Lance and scooped his helmet off of the floor from where it lay, surrounded by destroyed robot carcasses.  


“When you said ‘That’s for threatening Lance’ was it like an only-I-get-to-threaten=Lance kind of thing or a I-care-about-Lance-thing?” Lance asked quietly.  


“It was a conversation for later kind of thing,” Keith replied pointedly before turning quickly on his heels and pressing his lips softly to Lance’s cheek, “But even you might be able to figure it out”.


End file.
